Today I received all of Wave 20 from Amazon. I started with the figure I know the least about, Hercules.
I feel I have a pretty good grasp of Greek mythology, but I don't know how much of that translated into Marvel comics.
I have never read or seen anything with Marvel's Hercules. Apparently he showed up in the conclusion of World War Hulk, but I must not have read that far.
Marvel Universe Wave 8 Juggernaut
Overall, I like the figure quite a bit! He's articulate, sculpted quite well, and includes his (apparently) trademark mace.
Marvel Universe Comic Pack Wave 13 Colossus
I really don't have any complaints, it's pretty solid.
Marvel Universe Wave 12 World War Hulk
He also holds other weapons very easily. I'm impressed.
I know this is fairly old news, but I just got around to really looking into it. One of my favorite toy lines in a long time was The Hobbit. I bought the entire first wave except Grinnah for whatever reason, but I have loved all of them!
I sadly haven't seen the movie yet. When it came out, I wanted to see it in the higher frame rate, and I never got around to making the trip to a theatre that had it. Now, I feel I have waited long enough that I might as well wait for the extended cut on Blu-Ray.
The next wave apparently gives us the rest of the dwarves. This is fairly impressive considering how many there are! Unfortunately, from what I'm reading, if you had the first wave you are going to have some double if you want them all.
Apparently, the new single figure assortments include Radagast, Thranduil, Azog, Beorn, and another Gandalf. In addition, there will be some box sets with multiple figures. One of these includes Nori, Ori, Dori, Gloin, and Thorin (pictures above). Four new dwarves, and one I already have. Not the end of the world, but was it necessary to put him in there?
There is also a Mirkwood pack including Legolas, Tauriel, Thranduil, Fili, and Kili. Since Thanduil is apparently available in a single carded version, I should be able to pass on this considering I have all the others already.
The final box set includes Invisible Bilbo, Bifur, Bombur, and Oin. This isn't horrible, but I really don't have a need for an invisible Bilbo. I know many people do, so it is far better than another regular Bilbo.
I'm always looking for new fantasy figures in this scale, and I assume these will fit in just like like wave 1 did.
Of course at Comic-Con Hasbro always has an elaborate display. This year, the display has quite a few figures I either don't have or didn't know existed. I am aware some of these figures I'm going to list are available, but aren't available in my area so I'm going to list them anyway. None of these pictures are mine. All credit goes to cooltoyreview.com. Here is the full index of their images:
Very recently I made a post of all the Marvel Animated Series available on Netflix. Also recently, Netflix took down a vast majority of those shows.
What we lost:
X-Men is my personal favorite of any Marvel animated series, and I was working through the series again when it was mysterious gone from instant-queue. Do keep in mind, this isn't the first time X-Men has came and gone from Netflix, so hopefully it will be back. We do still have some X-Men though. X-Men Evolution is still available, which follows most the characters while they are in high school. It's not as good, but follows a new set of characters. Additionally, we still have Wolverine and the X-Men, which is newer, but in my opinion better than X-Men Evolution.
Spider-Man was the second best Marvel series for the time period. It tragically has been taken away from us. There are plenty of other Spider-Man shows still on Netflix, but none quite of this quality. The kind of sequel Spider-Man Unlimited is still available. The 1980s cartoons are still available as well as the 2003 Spider-Man featuring Neil Patrick Harris as Peter Parker. Similar, but also very different, the recent Ultimate Spider-Man is available, but not for everyone.
Iron Man wasn't great, especially the first season, but the second season really isn't that bad. Overall, it won't really be missed. There are other things worth watching featuring Iron Man! The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is phenomenal, and both seasons are available still. I have never watched it, but Iron Man: Armored Adventures is available if that is your thing. Furthermore, the Marvel animated movie, The Invicible Iron Man is available. It's kind of a different version of Iron Man than most people are used to, due to the movie, but it isn't bad. While not exactly my favorite version of Tony Stark, both Ultimate Avengers films are available as well.
There are still plenty of good Marvel animated series available, along with some animated movies. X-Men, Spider-Man, and Iron Man are no longer on Netflix, but I'm sure they will be back. I won't be super upset if Iron Man isn't though.
While this most be apparent to some people, I certainly had trouble trying to figure out what I should be buying. A little trial and error, and a little research and I figured it out. Really the only page I could find with the reading order was Wikipedia, so if you want a condensed version, go there.
Amory Wars is a comic series written by Claudio Sanchez. Claudio is the frontman and creator of the rock/metal/alternative band Coheed and Cambria.
If you were unaware, Coheed and Cambria's music tell a story. To go along with the continuing story, Claudio has written a series of comic book and a novel under the title "Amory Wars".
Their first album is the Second Stage Turbine Blade. Claudio released two issues of "The Second Stage Turbine Blade". For whatever reasons, no further issues were made. Years later, the series was started again and they remade the first two issues. The series ran ten issues and covers the storyline from the first Coheed and Cambria album.
The Second Stage Turbine Blade wasn't released in individual volumes*. You can either get it in individual issues, which will probably get expensive, or you can buy them all together in an "ultimate" edition. It is honestly more expensive in paperback than it is in hardcover. The hard cover ultimate edition retails for $29.99 and includes all ten issues of Second Stage Turbine Blade, both original issues, and a bonus issue.
*I'm told it is available in two separate volumes, I'll look into those!
Coheed and Cambria's second album "In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3" also has a graphic novel series of the same name. Also released under the main title, "Amory Wars", this series had twelve issues and is pretty much a direct sequel to The Second Stage Turbine Blade.
This time around, the book was released in twelve separate issues, then as three trade paperbacks. They aren't extremely hard to find, but are going to run about $12 a piece. That really isn't horrible for a book containing four $3.99 issues. Other than buying them all separately, there is an "ultimate" edition for In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth as well. It retails for $29.99 as well, and look great right next to The Second Stage Turbine Blade.
For Coheed's next album, "Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV", one graphic novel was released. It is a very strange book, dealing with someone known as the Writer as he writes the story of the main protagonist of Amory Wars. It is out of print, and extremely expensive. As Claudio rights more Amory Wars, he says he is going to re-do this story in chronological order to have it make more sense. Honestly, the only affordable way of reading this is Pirate Bay at this point...
The next album, "No World for Tomorrow" has yet to have any kind of adaptions made for it. Again, as he writes more and more, it will become involved.
"The Year of the Black Rainbow" is Coheed's next album and serves as a prequel to Amory Wars. It involves the main protagonists parents and his uncle. The story was released in a 352 page novel that leads up to the events of The Second Stage Turbine Blade. The book came with the limited edition of the album of the same name, and apparently that was about the only way to get it. I honestly can't find it for less than $100 in print. Luckily, Amazon has it available for $9.99 on their Kindle service. You don't necessarily need a Kindle to read it either, about any tablet has a Kindle app, and you can always read them on a computer if it comes to that.
Currently, these are all the Coheed and Cambria stories that are available. Claudio Sanchez and his comic publishing company, Evil Ink, are going to continue releasing Amory Wars comics. In a recent AMA on Reddit, Claudio said he is working on a few ideas and we should see a Good Apollo adaption soon.
SPOILER WARNING FOR THE FOLLOWING MOVIES: IRON MAN, IRON MAN 2, IRON MAN 3, and THE AVENGERS
So with the recent announcement from Joss Whedon (Director of The Avengers and creator of the shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse, as well the wonderful Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog) that the upcoming sequel to The Avengers has been dubbed, “Avengers: Age of Ultron.” A few things off the bat to the uninformed about what this new title tells us. First our main villain for the movie is most likely this murderous robot that makes the Terminator look like W.A.L.L.-E.
Ultron
His origin comes from one Hank Pym, aka Ant-man. In the comic world Ant-man created Ultron based off his own brain patterns with peaceful intentions in mind. The robot then goes on to be one of the most difficult foes the Avengers ever have the graces of facing off against.
Hank Pym reflecting on his creation.
Hank Pym, unlike most of the other Marvel heroes, is a pacifist at heart. The destruction brought forth by Ultron is a source of great concern for Pym, not only because Ultron is his creation, but because Ultron is based off Pym's own brain. Now, how this plays into the cinematic universe will be interesting to see because Joss Wheddon has confirmed that Ant-Man, not even as Hank Pym, will not be involved with Ultron's creation, nor will he be in the Avengers sequel. Our first view of Ant-Man will not be until Edgar Wrights movie, Ant-Man.
The man who brought you these films will be bringing you Ant-Man.
So the question of who is left to create Ultron really only falls to one person.
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